Week in science: zombie caterpillar edition

How a brain-manipulating virus turns caterpillars into zombies : A simple virus is able to cause its host to change its behavior in order to further spread the virus. Researchers have found the genes responsible.

How often did humans and Neanderthals have carnal relations? Not very: A model of human migration suggests that the intercourse that gave us Neanderthal DNA was either a rare event, or rarely productive.

Umpires show ethnic bias in ball/strike calls—unless they're feeling watched: Major League Baseball's umpires exhibited a subtle but significant bias towards favoring pitchers with their own ethnicity. But, as an umpire monitoring system was rolled out, that bias began to vanish.

Got kids? You're more likely to have low testosterone: A new longitudinal study shows that men with lots of testosterone are more likely to get married, but that testosterone levels decrease significantly when men become fathers.

PHD Comics Movie is coming, providing an inside view of science: The Piled Higher and Deeper (PHD) Comics are comics popular with graduate students worldwide. A live-action movie adaptation of the comic has just been released on academic campuses.

Natural CO₂ seeps suggest carbon storage is low risk: Is it safe to pump CO₂ from the burning of fossil fuels underground for storage? In most cases, yes, says a study of deaths caused by natural carbon leaks.

Separating a single photon from the flock: Researchers find a method to extract just a single photon from a beam of light, a development that could have an impact on quantum mechanics research.

Polio in India: going, going, gone? : India has gone months without any sign of polio infections. Has an aggressive vaccination campaign eliminated the virus from one of the world's most populous nations?

Can pumping too much groundwater raise sea level?: A hydrogeologist at the United States Geological Survey has compiled the most rigorous accounting of global groundwater depletion to date. Since water pumped out of the ground ends up in surface water bodies, it ultimately makes its way to the ocean, where it could potentially contribute to rising sea level.

Listing image by Photograph by staflo - busybusy :/